Seoul stresses ‘flexibility’ in advancing denuke talks

Ahead of working-level denuclearization talks between the United States and North Korea, a senior South Korean diplomat said “flexibility” was a key prerequisite to making “substantive progress.

“If Washington and Pyongyang want to keep the negotiations alive and make substantive progress, they should show more flexibility,” Lee Do-hoon, Seoul’s chief nuclear envoy, told reporters at Incheon International Airport before departing for Washington, D.C., for talks with his U.S. counterpart Stephen Biegun, scheduled for Saturday (KST).

“As North Korea has confirmed its willingness to return to the negotiations, there will be plenty of discussion points for Seoul and Washington. I plan to pass on some of our government’s suggestions regarding the new round of talks between Pyongyang and Washington,” Lee said without elaborating.

Lee added he doesn’t plan to contact the North Koreans during his visit to Washington. “We’ve been told about North Korea’s position in the upcoming dialogue from different viewpoints. South Korea will review this and discuss these mixed messages with the United States.”

North Korea recently laid out “conditions” for denuclearization ahead of the planned talks with the United States.

Its official Korean Central News Agency said Pyongyang was “hoping that the working-level negotiations will be held in a few weeks.”

A few days after this, a North Korean diplomat handling U.S. affairs called for “a complete removal of threats and hurdles regarding Pyongyang’s system security” as a condition for the talks. That raised speculation that the North could ask the U.S. for a security guarantee and sanctions relief.

The foreign ministry said Lee will meet other officials from the White House, State Department and think tanks during his visit.

Despite recent provocations by North Korea, U.S. President Donald Trump has maintained a “muted response” as a strategy to maintain his “good personal relations” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to diplomatic sources here.